Faded Spring

    Stress-Free Christmas Party Prep: From Desk To Dancefloor

    You know it's December when you see the shoppers. That familiar crazed look in their eyes. Their hopes and dreams dashed, as the last mince pie is snatched out of their reach. Trolleys overflowing, gift lists clutched like life rafts, and that one person aggressively sniffing a scented candle. Somewhere, carols are playing, but all you can hear is the soft scream of humanity trying to survive the festive rush. You don't blame them. Your own life feels like a badly coordinated Christmas pageant. Emails multiplying faster than Santa's Reindeer. Your mind doing the cha-cha between deadlines and glitter. You feel dread gnawing at your bone's like a fruitcake gone bad. Oh Xmas, how we love you ... read more

    Last Minute Vegan Christmas Gift Guide 2025

    Christmas arrives like an accusation, late, heavy, and relentless. Dragging its tinsel chains across my scratched floor. I wake up to the same throb in my chest. That famuilar tight breath that warns me, I might not make it outside today. The hallway feels miles long. Me, stuck at my laptop, frozen panic macerating my limbs in agony. The door feels impossible to reach. So stuck, I become a prisoner of my clouded mind. I glance at my to-do lists sprawled across the table. Inked messages in frantic crossed out strokes. Buy gifts. Answer messages. Show up. Pretend i'm fine. Unread texts stack like bricks on my ribs. Too much pressure, deadlines looming. It presses its weight into my sternum ... read more

    Sustainable Vegan Christmas Gifts For A Conscious Holiday

    The first snowfall arrives, a reminder of everything we've done wrong. Wet, wind-torn flakes splattering against the grey pavement. The Earth clearing its throat after decades of swallowing our waste. I sigh at the sight of discarded plastic bottles, and chocolate wrappers. Tinged with grey, footsteps treading, refusing to notice how poorly we treat our planet. But I notice, and mentally file away. Smoothing down my handmade red tartan skirt. Swishing under the fleeting snow. The wind rips through my wild hair. Tendrils unfurling from my pearl beret, a small business find. I watch people Christmas shopping, plastic bags, ripping. Brown Primark bags exploding in the rain. Small businesses ... read more

    L’Indiscipline Review: Gender, Power & 19th Century Medicine

    Looking for a grotesque dramedy, that examines the absurdities of historical medicine and gendered power? L’Indiscipline is not to be missed. As part of the multi-lingual Voila Festival, the 90 minute production takes place at Theatro Technis. Staged by the Threepenny Collective, it plunges audiences into the chaotic world of Jean‑Martin Charcot’s Salpêtrière lectures. When his star patient, Louise Gliezes, disappears, Charcot and his assistant Georges Gilles de la Tourette are forced to improvise, recruiting other patients — including Marie “Blanche” Wittman and Rose Kemper — to continue the lecture. What unfolds is a grimly comic dissection of power, performance, and the absurdity of ... read more

    The Ultimate Vegan Christmas Gift Guide 2025

    The festive clouds follow me like famished ghosts. Grey-bellied, whispering of sleepless nights. A reminder that Christmas is on the horizon, trailing through fairy lights and carols. Tinsel scruffy, half-torn, choking lamposts that had seen better days. Someone else's joy jangling too loudly, sensory overload. I feel the demons pressing on my neck, walking through days that taste of frost and doubt. The time races at breakneck speed, each breath a question, each hour a bruise. My eyes sunken into sallow skin. Dark charcoal smudges, mascara creeping down my face. It's a difficult time of year for anyone. The endless shopping lists, scattered runs through crowded supermarket aisles. Festive ... read more

    Countess Dracula Review: Aging, Horror & Feminism

    Think you know Dracula? Think again. Countess Dracula sinks its fangs into Bram Stoker’s legend and resurrects it as a darkly funny, fiercely feminist tale of power, ageing, and rebirth. Not your usual gothic romp, the 60 minute play exposes how society sidelines women as they age, turning their bodies and desires into something to be hidden—or feared—while reclaiming the agency and rage that culture tries to erase. Drawing on the dark allure of the myth of Dracula, the play imagines the Countess reclaiming her waning fire by siphoning the very force of youthful masculinity. A blood-soaked, lipstick smeared rebellion against the patriarchy, I was hooked instantly. After all, there's ... read more

    The Diana Mixtape Musical At Outernet Review

    Is 'Toxic' your national anthem? Do you treat the 'Revenge Dress' like Scripture? Is the Royal Family your go-to source for piping hot tea? If “Princess Diana in drag” sounds like a plot twist you’d binge—run, don’t walk. For The Diana Mixtape Musical is loud, unapologetic, and camper than a tent at Glastonbury! A fever dream of pop, monarchy, and drag excellence, this love letter to Diana is impossibly feel-good. Created and directed by Christopher D. Clegg—whose producer credits include Death Drop, Cool Rider and Gals Aloud—this production promises a dance‑floor ready tribute to the People’s Princess, expressed through a glittering 90-minute show. From the 28th July-10th August, Here ... read more

    Untamed Heart: Small Town Cowboy Romance Review

    I head to the mailbox, swooning with excitement. Crack open the envelope, hug Untamed Heart to my chest. There's something deliciously comforting about cracking open a romance novel, and knowing that no matter the chaos, a happy ending is waiting for me. Escaping the mess of my real life, abandon the to-do list that I have promised myself i'd stop doing. My inbox pinging, I turn off the notifications. Run a bath, soapy bubbles coating the water. A bath bomb fizzing, essential oils drenched in chamomile and lavender. Opening that first page. The romance novel where there's order and familuarity. Someone that gets their forever. The bad guy that gets their karma. I wave goodbye to time ... read more

    Time Anxiety: The Illusion Of Urgency Review

    I look up, head first in an MRI machine, breaths shallow, the panic clawing at my chest. They tell me to keep still, to stay calm. But I feel like I am drowning, the headphones filled with a clanging noise. It's jarring, my cheeks redden. The first tears spill, cheeks swollen with misery. At this moment, time is supposed to be a constant. 15 minutes they say, and then everything will be over. But in this moment time slows down. Yawning like someone who dosen't have anything better to do. 10 minutes playing games, I lose sight of time, lost in the world of make-believe. But here, the environment feels like high pressure. Trapped in a machine that feeds into my claustrophobia. Wishing that ... read more

    Helping Children Adjust To New Family Arrangements

    I am a survivor. A person who speaks to her inner child often. The scared, vunerable, hurt kid who was constantly bullied, abused and taken advantage of. I had family members flake out on me. Left in the hands of evil that threatened to take away my joy. They tried to break me, but I wouldn't crumble. Determined from an early age, navigating each family crisis with strength beyond my years. Aged 2 and a half, I was abandoned by my mum. My Dad trying his best to fill in the void. Working long hours to provide for us both. Trying to give us the life that he had always dreamed of. There was a seperation that affected me deeply. I was confused, and even at that early age, I remembered fragments. ... read more